As a Westport history buff — and chair of the town’s Longshore 50th committee — Scott Smith is a stickler for accuracy.
News of the Westport Historical Society’s Sept. 25 The British Are Coming! bus tour — commemorating our Revolutionary War claim to fame — brought to mind a pet peeve of his:
The lopsided, cluttered sign at the corner of Post Road East and South Compo.
As any bicyclist or jogger knows, Compo Beach is not “one mile south” of the street sign. The British might have wished it were so — they marched all the way north from there to Danbury where they demolished an ammunition depot; burned 19 houses, 22 stores and barns; destroyed food, clothing, medical equipment, tents, candles and a printing press, then trooped all the way back to their boats moored off Compo — but it is definitely more than a mile.
Which brings to mind an important question: If something as simple as that distance can be wrong, how accurate is everything else on all those historical markers?
Maybe they meant leagues….
Good point Expat. Perhaps mile meant another length of distance.
How far is it to the sign from the beach??? When was the sign errected?
Must be an explanation besides a goof-up.
Maybe the sign was originally placed at Bridge St/Greens Farm Rd and then moved to the Post Road. It would likely be about 1 mile from that starting point.
Maybe they came up the River and landed there. That IS about a mile
Thanks, Dan, for posting my peeve — It’s a silly thing, but it does make you wonder. The sign itself is quite sturdy and built to last. It may have been moved at some point, and since it’s evidently misplaced at its current location, I wonder if it makes sense ask the town (or whoever decides such things) to relocate it, say, to the intersection of Compo Road East and Bridge St./Greens Farms, where it would be at least closer to the 1-mile mark to Compo Beach, which I believe remains the undisputed landing site of the British …